Snapmaker sent out a pre-release announcement on their new U1 4 color four head FDM printer. They have working prototypes they can use for marketing and to attract potential buyers.
Obvious baiting tactics but it has me looking.
I own a Creality K2 plus that does four to sixteen colors. I will probably never go above four with my machine. The K2 plus is a single head feed and retract system. Pretty much a copy of the Bambu Lab X1C, and others.
The to-be-released Snapmaker U1 overcomes one major fault with feed and retract single nozzle printers which is called “poop” or filament purging waste. A huge amount of filament and time is wasted in purging the single nozzle.
The U1 swaps the entire print head, one for each color. Four maximum. This requires a complex and very accurate indexing and position reliability for the U1. Position accuracy is presently claimed to be 0.04mm which is one tenth of nozzle hole size.
That seems a good specification.
Prusa XL printer is a similar but I think a bit larger and quite expensive head swap system now available in their product line. The XL can hold up to 5 heads. The Snapmaker U1 seems to have followed this design concept. Not sure how they exactly compare.
The U1 print area seeems a bit on the small size. However, I think it is reasonable for a printer primarily designed for four color (or material) printing. For me, I think it is adequate size for designs I would print with multi-materials.
More moving parts usually means more maintenance and things to go wrong. That is unavoidable if the intent is to combine the four material together whilst printing.
I also own three multi-filament single nozzle mixing FDM printers. Two Geetech and a Cetus 2. They present their own set of challenges. But I have had good results and interesting color blending. Not a pure even mix, but blending nozzle printers are another topic.
I like and enjoy multi color printing. The Snapmaker certainly has my interest. If pricing is in the range of their J1s (IDEX) printer I’ll pay more attention. I’ll even volunteer to be a beta-tester or even a charlie-tester If there is a good cost-to-own advantage.
I completed a prospective customer survey. Looks like Snapmaker is still deciding on price point and market position. Multi color is not what I consider a beginners tool.
If the hardware reliability and user skills are high enough, multi color/filament FDM printing can open up for designers (like me) more creative opportunities.
Bring it on!
Leave a Reply